Cypress Creek FACE has hosted hundreds of performances at The Centrum since 1997.[/caption]
When Nanci Decker became executive director of the Cypress Creek Foundation for the Arts and Community Enrichment, she wanted the nonprofit to attract performances as diverse as the community it serves.
Fifteen years later, Cypress Creek FACE has a growing schedule that includes 40 performances and four concert series at the Centrum, the performance arts venue it works with at the Cypress Creek Christian Church. Keeping a diverse mix of acts is a challenge for the nonprofit, but it provides a service to the Spring and Klein region, Decker said.
“If it [were] all country or bluegrass or gospel music, then I wouldn’t even want to see it,” Decker said. “I looked at my community, and we have a really diverse community. A diverse offering appeals to them.”
A different way of learning
Cypress Creek FACE believes in the importance of introducing children to live performances, Decker said.
In addition to the number of family-friendly performances it presents to the community throughout the year, FACE offers a weeklong music camp for sixth-, seventh- and eighth- graders that culminates with a live performance by the group at the end of the week.
The nonprofit has also partnered with Klein ISD and other members of the Cypress Creek Cultural District to create Art Days, a program designed to get young students involved with the cultural district. Third-graders spend a day visiting the Centrum, the Barbara Bush Branch Library, the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts and the Cypress Creek Community Center, Decker said.
Last year 29 KISD elementary schools brought more than 3,000 third-graders for the four-hour field trip to the cultural center.
“Here’s something beyond book work that can inspire children,” Decker said. “[KISD] has embraced that idea, and it has made a huge impact on the quality of education and children.”
Working with children in the community has also helped parents benefit from Cypress Creek FACE’s performances and programming, Decker said.
“I look at 55-year-old parents, and they’re just giggling and smiling just like the kids,” she said. “It’s amazing to see a 60-year-old light up like a five-year-old. You can change their [lives].”
Humble beginnings
The Spring-based nonprofit was created after Cypress Creek Christian Church decided to build a bigger sanctuary with new vaulted ceilings and quality acoustics that could be used as a concert venue in 1997. The church needed an organization to manage the process of booking artists, Decker said.
Cypress Creek FACE has grown from 12-13 concerts per season when the building first opened in the fall of that year to offering 24 concerts in 2015. In addition, the group hosts 15 Klein Art Days and two weeklong summer camps, she said.
In the 18 years since its inception, the nonprofit has hosted a number of well-known performers, including Bill Cosby, Bob Newhart, Burt Bacharach and the Houston Symphony Orchestra.
FACE’s staff of three supervises its $500,000 annual budget and volunteers, Decker said.
The cultural arts organization is funded through a combination of ticket sales and donations through its guild, the Centrum Arts League. The guild puts on fundraisers that sponsor 55 percent of Cypress Creek FACE’s operating budget, including much of the nonprofit’s programming, Decker said.
The 2015-16 season, which runs from September through May, will feature jazz performer Branford Marsalis, the Houston Symphony Orchestra and four other acts as part of its Star-Lit! series, which features six artists from six different genres.
Cypress Creek FACE also has three other concert series—Promenade, Children’s, and BB&T Family Series—aimed at different segments of the community, Decker said.
“This year it seems we’ve gotten much faster renewals, and we’ve got a lot of good feedback,” she said. “There’s a good balance of nostalgia [and] jazz, yet youth is in it too. I think people really enjoy that. It’s fun.”
